Tuesday, June 21, 2011

my backyard

Thus far, I have justified my diet of pizza, kebabs, yogurt, fresh fruit, gelato, and chocolate by the amount of walking that I have been doing. In Spain and now in Portugal my amount of walking has decreased by almost half, while my kebab and gelato consumption continue unchanged. I have started to feel a slight twinge of guilt—not enough to change anything, of course—but then I remind myself that in a week I will go back to my spinach smoothies and gym membership, so that makes me feel better. Until then…
The past few hostels have been so great—decently priced, clean, free laundry and breakfast, and great locations. This was our backyard in Sevilla:


On our last night there Ariel and I sat on the balcony and admired the view as the sun set and these buildings became lit up for the night. I love my life.
On Monday Ariel and I met up with Ben in Lagos on the southern coast of Portugal. We went swimming here, again, practically in our backyard:


Apparently, we weren’t supposed to swim through all those caves and arches, something about waves and rocks and danger—I didn’t really get it. Ben told me afterwards that there were lots of signs saying so, but I’m going to claim ignorance and in this case, ignorance was bliss. While we were swimming there, Ben kept saying, “This is so awesome!” And, although he had teased me somewhat for my method of choosing where I wanted to go (Google image search), he admitted that in this case, it worked well. I’ve been to amazing places and done amazing things for seven weeks, and still, I couldn’t believe I was actually there.
Now we are in Lisbon, and after a kebab (of course) we bought some pasteis de nata to eat here, again, practically in our backyard:


It has been super nice having Ben around. I don’t have to think about where we are going, I can just follow him and his “male sense of direction.” Although that has proved to be less than infallible, it lead to some fun adventures scrambling through the brush along the cliffs. And I love having three of us. I sometimes just like to be quiet and by myself, which is why traveling by myself has been so awesome. So, I can just let Ben and Ariel entertain themselves when I don’t feel like talking, and join in the group and conversation when I do. It’s perfect.
Ben asked me today how I feel about going home in a week and I told him the truth, “I have no idea.” I have a pretty awesome life all around and lots to miss and look forward to in the U.S. (I even look forward to a good spinach smoothie), but once I’m home I’m really going to miss feeling like the world is my backyard.
Quote of the day:
Ben: You know in the movies how they say “she’s not like other girls”? That’s you.
Thanks, Ben.

2 comments:

  1. My male sense of direction has worked pretty well so far, hasn't it? And, my arms aren't even sore from carrying Ariel's bag up multiple flights of stairs.

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  2. It's worked well enough, Ben--well enough to get us into some interesting paths and still make it to the Grottenfahrt! ;) And thanks again for your help!

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